National News

Al Sharpton spied on mob for FBI: Docs

(NEWSER) – Al Sharpton is vigorously denying a report that he was once an FBI informant spying on the Genovese and Gambino crime families. The Smoking Gun yesterday published a major investigative piece based on hundreds of pages of FBI documents obtained via Freedom of Information Act requests that reveal that Sharpton, known as CI-7, was a major asset for the FBI's "Genovese squad," using a specially wired briefcase to secretly record 10 meetings with one Gambino figure. The mobster spoke openly on those recordings about extortion, death threats, and the feigned mental illness of Genovese boss Vincent "Chin" Gigante. Sharpton's info helped investigators secure wiretaps on dozens of crime family phones.